Live Review: Music To Isolate To: Clea

28 May 2020 | 4:36 pm | Emma Jones

With the ongoing and ever-evolving COVID-19 pandemic, it’s a crazy world out there right now, so it’s never been more important to band together. Self-isolation and social distancing are two of the most effective tools we have as a society to help fight COVID-19, but they’re also very difficult to undertake and they have very real, long-lasting consequences on the music and arts industries — some of which we aren’t even aware of yet. Our artists and our industry are already feeling the ripple effect, and things are only going to get worse before they get better.

Because of this, it’s up to us to use what we’ve got at our disposal to best represent and amplify our community and continue to tell artists’ stories. Purple Sneakers has always fiercely represented Australian music and our team are some of the best writers in the country, so we’re going to use our platform to continue doing what we do best: connect our community with the artists we love, and support artists by promoting their incredible music.

Music To Isolate To is an ongoing artist-curated playlist series by Purple Sneakers. We’ve asked some of our favourite artists ever to provide us with the ten songs they’re listening to while in isolation, and provide some commentary for their selections. We’ll be running these for the foreseeable future every Monday and Thursday, and you can follow the Spotify playlist which will be updated on these days right HERE. The idea is to not only promote artists who are curating the playlists, but to also promote those songs that mean a lot to them whether they be longtime classics or fresh new releases.

Plug into the latest music with our FREE weekly newsletter

The next in our Music To Isolate To series is CLEA. Brisbane's Clea is an artist in every sense of the word. From her unique take on fashion, her considered and careful visual direction with her press shots and her always riveting videos, she works with her community around her to provide the perfect world for her music to flourish in. From her debut single 'Polyester' to her 2018 debut album, Vermillion, and now in 2020 with her latest single 'Soft Blow To The Head', she continually evolves as a bonafide storyteller with a stunning, honeyed voice. When she released her new single, we said at the time it was "yet another shining example of why she’s one of the most exciting acts in the country right now," and we stand by it. Absolutely one to watch with more on its way, Clea remains a bright light of creativity and artistic direction, and we truly cannot wait to see what she does next.

From Ainsle Wills to Cub Sport and an INXS classic thrown in for good measure, it is a joy to have Clea take over our Music To Isolate playlist! Check it all out below.

Died Pretty – Satisfied

This is a sunrise song, it slowly lifts itself up from the horizon with it’s beautiful guitar and bass interplay. The refrain at the end ‘live and be strong’ is very poignant for these times. 

Ainslie Wills – Drive

Wake up, make a delicious cup of your preferred beverage, go on a metaphoric drive through the Grand Pacific Highway, let your hair down and get ready for a productive day at home.

Tame Impala – Posthumous Forgiveness

Listen to this song with your heavy-duty headphones and pace furiously around the house while punching the air when the repetitive drums kick in. A song to get you sweaty and make you momentarily forget about the world in turmoil. 

Perve Endings – Georgia

Get angry and boogie your heart out. Think of ‘Georgia’ as the toilet paper and hand sanitizer hoarders. 

Cub Sport – Only Friend

Listen to Cub Sport and undergo mid morning metamorphosis during isolation.

I Know Leopard – Daisy Eyes

A tune to hum for days on end at home. An absolute melodic dream that that will whisk you away to a better place.

Pool Shop – Can You Dream

This song is multidimensional, soft yet uplifting. A song to for meditation and soft head banging. Play it while doing the dishes or achieving those 10 push-ups.

Merpire - Heavy Feeling

This song is definitely for those 1am moments when you realise your whole world has been flipped and there’s is no certain end sight. Cry it out.

Julia Jacklin – Body

A song is for when you turn off all your lights before hoping into bed. Let the story and pulsating rhythm wash over you.... And most likely cry... it’s time to accept that crying is going to be a big part of isolation “I guess that’s just my life."

INXS – Never Tear Us Apart

The title says it all. We will get through this.

Introduction by Emma Jones

Image by Lily Cotter

SEE ALSO